Jeffrey and I have been thrilled with the success of our camp scholarship program over the past 3 years and our 4th Annual Upside Of Down Charity Kickball Tournament is coming up on April 1st!

We've attended a few presentations from Down syndrome researchers and have created a new goal for Upside of Down over the next year - to raise $100,000 for Down syndrome research to be distributed by DSRTF (Down Syndrome Research and Treatment Foundation).  Our first insight to what research was going on was by attending a presentation by Dr. William Mobley, one of the pioneers and heroes (in my book) on Down syndrome research.  This past fall Jeffrey and I attended a presentation by Jon Pierce-Shimomura, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Section of Neurobiology at THE University of Texas at Austin.  Jon was our inspiration to raise $100,000 for research!  It is amazing at what they are onto at the UT lab and other labs across the nation!  This past week, Jeffrey and I were invited to have lunch with Dr. Michael Harpold, DSRTF Chief Scientific Officer and Chair, Jon Pierce-Shimomura and others in our community with a passion for increasing Down syndrome research - Thank you Jerry Horton for that invitation!  We hope that you'll consider contributing to our goal of 100k for Down syndrome research this year!!!  Just skip on that swanky coffee a few times each month - that's all it takes to make a difference!!!!

Our most exciting contribution is that Upside Of Down is sponsoring the employment of a few individuals at Jon Pierce-Shimomura's lab at UT.  These aren't just any employees - these paid researchers happen to have Down syndrome!  Yes!!!  I cannot believe that he's created an opportunity such as this for people with Down syndrome to be contributing to some serious science!!!  I would be more than proud to one day say that my daughter, Presley, works at UT in a research lab as a paid scientist!!!  Thank you Jon for doing what you do and for creating opportuntities for individuals with Down syndrome!  Also, thank you to our donors that help make it possible for Upside of Down to support opportunities for individuals with Down syndrome!!!